Digital Engagement Lab
The Digital Engagement Lab focuses on advancing our understanding of how digital content structures impact audience engagement. Under Professor Ronald Yaros, we're developing innovative tools and methodologies to analyze news presentation patterns and create more effective digital storytelling formats.
📊 New View Visualizations
Digital data "scraped" from various sites visualizes comparisons of how different sources present different types of content. This data is used to develop and test more effective structures.
CNN vs FOX News Analysis
This visualization tool compares how CNN and FOX News structure their digital content across three key metrics:
Analyzing visual content density across news sources
Measuring article length and content depth
Tracking visual emphasis and layout patterns
🤖 New View News App
An AI tool that converts any story (simply by pasting in the link) to the "Smart Story Suite" format. Beyond a target audience consuming linear content, this "Smart Story Structure" addresses the multiple needs of users who also assemble a narrative that most meaningful to them.
The Smart Story Suite Format
This innovative format transforms traditional linear news articles into interactive, modular experiences. Users can navigate through story sections, explore different perspectives, and customize their reading experience based on their interests and available time.
Interface Components Breakdown:
Users simply paste any news URL and click "Analyze Article" to convert linear content
"Summary View" and "Detailed View" buttons let users choose their reading depth
Navigable story sections like "Lawsuit Against OpenAI," "Previous Lawsuits," and "OpenAI's Response" - allowing users to jump to topics of interest
Key points presented as digestible bullet points, plus a comprehensive summary for quick understanding
Metadata including publication date, source, author, and direct link to original article
Shows "Total: 15/25" with breakdown (S4 P2 I2 C4 E4) - measuring the original article's Scannability, Personalization, Interactivity, Curated content, and Emotion. The algorithmic calculation is still in development; currently uses rough estimates.
Shows "84%" with "Excellent" rating - the Dice coefficient tracking how much original content is preserved
Original article images and additional media preserved and organized for enhanced visual storytelling
Stories broken into digestible, navigable sections
Readers choose their own narrative path
Proven to increase reader engagement
Simply paste any news URL to convert
Content Integrity Protection
A major concern for news outlets is ensuring AI doesn't alter their authors' original words. To address this, the system calculates a similarity score using the Dice coefficient, which tracks how much of the original text the AI has changed.
Where A = original text tokens, B = processed text tokens, and |A ∩ B| represents the intersection (common tokens). Higher scores indicate better content preservation, with 1.0 being perfect similarity.
📖 Upcoming Publication
The New View News project will be featured in Professor Yaros's upcoming book, providing academic context for the Smart Story Suite format and its applications in digital journalism.
📚 Book Details
The Digital Engagement Model
by Ronald Yaros
🚀 The Future of News Presentation
Professor Yaros sees the Smart Story Suite format as the future of digital news presentation. Early research indicates this approach significantly increases reader engagement by allowing users to construct their own meaningful narratives from the available content.
Research Impact
Proven to boost reader interaction and time-on-page
Contributing to media studies and digital journalism research
Potential to transform how news organizations present content
Puts reader needs and preferences at the center
🎓 Key Takeaways
Working under Professor Yaros at the Digital Engagement Lab has provided invaluable experience in academic research methodology, data analysis, and the intersection of technology and media studies. These projects demonstrate how technical innovation can advance important research in communications and digital media, with practical implications for the future of digital journalism and content strategy.